Tchaikovsky: Eugene Onegin

There are no English under titles. This is playable on a Region 2 machine. Otherwise a well done visual recreation. There is a German version with Wunderlich and Fassbender from a 1962 performance in Munich that is more immediate. This version has more polish

This dvd was my introduction to this opera. I loved it! The music is wonderful, the story haunting, the characters unforgettable. Don't miss this one! I can't imagine a better version.

I really enjoyed this version of Onegin. It's more like a film than an opera. Indexing between the booklet and the DVD is 1 off, and there is a glitch in sound between tracks 12 and 13, but it is still a grat production. And I didn't have any problems navigating to Act II or Act III. What surprised me, the native Russian speaker, is that non-Russian singers sing in almost perfect Russian language.

Solti is the best

I am very satisfied

Was going for a cd but DVD will be fun to watch - when I can sit down. I can listen to DVD though.Cheers.

I thought everything about this production; singing, acting and production was excellent; one of the best opera dvds I have ever seen.

Excellent!

I gave this film of 'Eugene Onegin' 3 stars because it is one of the most successful and beautiful films of an opera that I know. I first saw it on TV many years ago, and the memory of it persuaded me to buy the DVD. I was hoping to find English subtitles, or even a choice of languages, but no; only a fluent speaker of Russian could follow all that is sung. As this is one of my 'desert island' operas, I'm very familiar with the action, so could follow it easily, but a newcomer to the story might be bewildered. Another caveat: the score is cut, in places quite heavily. The first 10 minutes or so are ditched (the scene for the four female characters), so that the action starts with the peasants' chorus. Later, the role of the nurse Filipevna is cut to ribbons, neither the conversation with Tatiana before the Letter Scene nor the exchange immediately following the nurse's return has survived. And the sound is quite edgy in places, not as clear as on the LP/CD from which it is taken.So why bother? Firstly, because the actors embody the characters of the story convincingly. They lip-svnch admirably, and convey the feelings so well. Then the drama is played out in settings of great beauty. The duel scene in particular does more than any stage production I have seen. Camera work is always apposite and only very occasionally did i find any background detail distracting. In short, despite the shortcomings listed above, I was both moved and convinced by the performance of the participants, and the singers are splendid, despite the less than perfect sound quality.

Petr Weigl's film of 'Eugene Onegin' cuts, according to my calculations, around half an hour of the music from Tchaikovsky's opera. However, the first 8 minutes of the opera, which are not included in the film, can easily be accessed via the menu - just select 'Prologue', the music will then run smoothly into the film, leaving just 20 minutes omitted.So not for the purists, who will want the entire opera. Personally, though, I found this film totally absorbing, and the cuts did not worry me at all. All the important music, as you would expect, is there and. for me, the film brings the story to life in a new way.One issue that has been raised is poor lip-sync (since singers and actors are obviously not the same). However, this is not inherent in the film: I have an ultra fast cable linking my player to my TV & the lip-sync was perfect. The Solti recording with the Royal Opera House is one I have known and loved on CD for many years.

Actually it DOES have English subtitles, but I discovered these only AFTER I had finished watching the film! There was nothing at the beginning because I checked a few times, but after it had finished there were the choices of which act to watch, and the subtitles. Fortunately Tchaikovsky's music made up for that annoyance, and I thought that the whole performance was good. ( the DVD was cheap, after all ). However, as the actors were miming the words, I kept watching their lips and how in sync they were to the " real" singers. I liked the scenery and the ladies' costumes very much, and the story itself was not complicated. The performance made a change from a theatrical production, but shot on location, although I would now wish to see a traditional version. Tatyana had a wonderful voice.

How I love it when opera is removed from the stage to real-life locations. This is an outstanding example and much preferable to other productions of Eugene Onegin I have seen. The synchronization of filming and music recording is incredible: I watch the lips of the actors and really believe that they are the singers. As always, Solti gets superb performances from the orchestra and soloists. No opera lover should be without this DVD, and it confirms that Tchaikovsky is just as brilliant with his command of opera as he was with ballet and symphonic music.

The film is a perfect way to appreciate the writing of Pushkin, the highest standard of filming, locations, actors etc etc. Just a dream film I watch over and over again. Obviously if it had been sung as in the opera it would be even more wonderful , but then these actors are not opera singers. I can only highly commend you to watch this one, exceptional!! You will become an addict to it! Combines beauty in every form, a perfect production.